


Loving the Impossible Man

by kedavranox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Marriage, OTP Feels, Romance, Slice of Life, Sneaky!Draco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-10-01 17:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kedavranox/pseuds/kedavranox
Summary: What happens when a slightly overprotective dad!Harry has to deal with James’ first year of primary school? Luckily, he’s a Potter and he knows just what to do with a spare bit of parchment.





	Loving the Impossible Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oceaxe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceaxe/gifts).



> Imported from [Tumblr](http://kedavranox.tumblr.com/post/178528181316/summary-what-happens-when-a-slightly)  
> Thank you @oceaxereturns for the prompt and @keyflight790 & @apollopotter for giving this a one over!

I turn the enchanted parchment over in my hands, heart racing at the thought of what I’d done.

As it is, the sounds of Harry’s frantic search upstairs is more upsetting than I thought it would be, and I know that soon, I’ll have to admit to what I’ve done.

I’d thought, after the first few days had passed without comment, he’d forgotten. That Harry had moved on and finally made peace that—yes, even when they were parted, his son was safe.

After we finally decided on a primary school for James in the Muggle district of London, Harry—he had only admitted this after I refused to let him back into the house—spent an entire Sunday afternoon skulking around the building, charming an old bit of parchment with its schematics in order to make himself a map. Then, a few days later, at James’ orientation, Harry put a monitoring charm on all the teachers and students to enchant the map the same way his father had done at Hogwarts with his friends.

That he was able to do so while holding a conversation with both the school principal and James’ class teacher was impressive—and truth be told, made me horny as hell—but I knew, even if he didn’t, that a map like that would only cause him more anxiety than he could ever conjure up on his own.

After months of his his daily checking and rechecking of the map, his constant need to know where James was and what he was doing at all times, I decided to steal the bloody thing myself and hide it where Harry could no longer obsess over it.

Now, I suppose I have to face the consequences—lest Harry destroy our bedroom in his panic.

I loosen my tie, having been at the office before receiving Harry’s frantic Patronus—I can’t find the map!—and trudge up the staircase. I narrowly miss stepping on one of James’ diabolical LEGO pieces, and then I have to pause outside the door for breath—and patience—before pushing it open.

Any irritability in my heart dies when I see him.

Harry is a mess.

His hair…Well, actually, his hair is exactly the same alarming disarray of thick black hair it’s always been, but his eyes are red rimmed, and his smile lines are bleak. His olive shirt is rumpled and pushed up at the sleeves, his wand is in hand, though it’s being uselessly twirled as Harry paces the room with a worrisome, frantic sort of determination.

When he finally spots me in the doorway, he starts, eyes wild as I enter our calamity of a bedroom. The chest of drawers have been emptied, all our clothes in lumpy piles on the floor. Our dressing table has been ransacked. On the bed, the suitcases we used on our last family vacation have been tossed and left open, their empty insides glaring back at me as if to say ‘We have been violated. Will you fix this?!’

I walk towards him, palms upraised. “Didn’t you have a meeting with Gawain today? You’re home early.”

For a moment, Harry seems disarmed by the question, and his bright green gaze flickers with irritable distraction. “What? Yes. I did—Draco. I can’t find it. I can’t find the map.”

Reaching out tentatively, I take his hand and pry the wand from his fingertips. After a moment of resistance, he acquiesces with a murmur and a forlorn look as I toss his wand aside onto the bed before I pull him in close.

“I know what you’re going to say.” His deep voice rumbles against my chest, and I kiss his throat.

Harry’s long fingers dig into my biceps as he shudders. “Draco. This is serious.”

I kiss him again and he exhales a quick breath before pushing me gently away.

“What if something’s happened to him? What if he’s—” I press my fingers against his lips.

“They have both our phone numbers. They’ve got Ginny’s and Ron’s and Hermione’s. They’ve got Pansy’s address. If something was wrong, we’d know.”

Harry’s shoulders sag. He melts into me and rests his forehead against my chest. I thread my fingers at the soft hairs curled against his nape and sigh.

“He’s safe, Harry.” I massage his scalp with my fingertips and he makes a soft, vulnerable sound. “Nothing is going to happen to him.” I cup his check and gently lift his chin, taking a moment to kiss his forehead.

“There’s that kid. In his class. William.” Harry says the kids name with such disdain, I have to hold back a laugh. “He pushed James down the stairs.”

I lead him to a empty spot on the bed and he sits and leans into my shoulder as I settle down beside him.

“They were playing, Harry. James wasn’t being bullied. He was just being James.”

Harry remains quiet, so I take his hand and link our fingers, trying to choose my next words very carefully. Merlin knows I’m not usually very good at this, but with Harry—especially when it comes to things like this—I’ve learned that I have to be.

“I know it was hard for you growing up. But, James—he isn’t you.”

Harry doesn’t look directly at me, but from the pinched, weary expression on his face, I can tell he’s lost in some terrible memory that I’ll never be able to save him from.

I keep talking anyway.

“James was loved from the day he was born. He knows how special he is. You’ve made sure of that.”

When Harry still doesn’t answer me, I unlink our fingers and reach into my pocket, pulling out the map.

Harry goes very still, staring at it like a man who expects to be deceived, before his incredulous gaze lifts to me. For a moment I think he’s going to snatch it away and curse and stomp down the stairs, and insist I sleep on the couch for the next two weeks, but he doesn’t. He just laughs—a heavy and tired sort of sound—and says, “You’re a real shit, Malfoy, you know that?”

“Well, yes,” I say, kissing his nose. “But you married me anyway, didn’t you?”

When Harry doesn’t say anything to that—he only looks at me with the expression he gets whenever he’s about to tell me something really sappy like how much he loves me, and I smile at him. “You too, you prat.”

I unfold the parchment and we sit shoulder to shoulder, staring at the tiny dot that is James Potter whizzing up and down the playing field, his friend William never far behind.

Harry reaches out for the parchment, but he never takes it. His hand hovers there, shaking, casting a blurry shadow as I’m sure we both get caught in imagining the sound of James’ high-pitched laughter, his light tread, the crunch as his feet turn the gravel beneath them. 

“He’s all right,” Harry says, his voice cracked with both love and wonder.

I close the parchment and banish it, and Harry doesn’t protest at the loss. I take his hand again, and he smiles.

“Yes, he is,” I tell him. I gently press a kiss to his temple, feeling impossibly full of love for an impossibly loving man. “And so are you.”

**Author's Note:**

> ❤Leave a kudos if you enjoyed this, or a comment if you like ❤ Find me on [Tumblr](http://kedavranox.tumblr.com)! ❤


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